I saw a woman in the gym today with a tee-shirt that read:
A friend will help you move…

Then on the back of the tee-shirt, it read:

But a real friend will help you move a body.

Of course, in order to read the back of her shirt, I had to dismount my elliptical machine, feign the need for a drink of water at the fountain and pause beside a support column in order to read it.

I’m not quibbling with the message on the shirt, as inane as it may be, but I have a problem with the idea of splitting a tee-shirt message onto the front and back of a shirt, necessitating almost stealth-like maneuvers in order to read the punch line.

Or worse, causing the wearer of such witticisms to ask, “Did you see my tee-shirt? Did you see the back? Wait for it…” Then he or she performs an awkward pirouette, followed by another question. “Get it?”